Name-calling 'increases obesity risk'

Experiencing weight-related name-calling at a young age can increase a female's risk of developing obesity in later life, a new study has discovered.

This conclusion was reached by researchers at the University of California Los Angeles, who analysed the experiences of 2,379 girls of different races over a nine-year period when they were aged between ten and 19, as well as data from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

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Of the group of girls, 58 per cent had been told they were too fat by a parent, friend, classmate or sibling before the age of ten.

As part of the investigation, the girls had their height and weight measured when they were aged ten and again at the age of 19.

Results of the study showed that those who had been called fat at a young age were 1.66 times more likely to be obese nine years later.

In addition to this, it was discovered that if there were more people who told a female she was fat, the likelihood of her developing obesity increased too.

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A Janet Tomiyama, lead author of the study and assistant professor of psychology at the university, concluded: 'Simply being labelled as too fat has a measurable effect almost a decade later … even after we statistically removed the effects of their actual weight, their income, their race and when they reached puberty, the effect remained.

'That means it's not just that heavier girls are called too fat and are still heavy years later, being labelled as too fat is creating an additional likelihood of being obese.'

She added that it was a great shock to discover that this was the case.

In a supporting statement, University of California Santa Barbara graduate student Jeffrey Hunger explained that previous research has shown that being called fat can cause people to worry that they are actually overweight. This can lead to stress and this often makes patients more likely to overeat.

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